{"id":103802,"date":"2025-09-02T15:24:40","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T15:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=103802"},"modified":"2025-09-02T16:08:51","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T16:08:51","slug":"uri-theatres-2025-26-seasons-blends-classic-and-contemporary-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2025\/09\/uri-theatres-2025-26-seasons-blends-classic-and-contemporary-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 Theatre\u2019s 2025-26 seasons blends classic and contemporary stories"},"content":{"rendered":"
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溏心vlog免费B站 Theatre\u2019s eight-show production of the musical “Guys and Dolls,” with Max Hunter, right, as Nicely-Nicely Johnson, closed last season with a bang. 溏心vlog免费B站 Theatre’s new season begins Oct. 17 with “Pride and Prejudice.”(溏心vlog免费B站 Photos\/Jessie Dufault)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Sept. 2, 2025 \u2013 This season in the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Theatre Department<\/a>, audiences will get a chance to visit Georgian-era England, a Las Vegas bus stop, the realistic and unsettling mind of Harold Pinter, a magical Shakespearean forest, and theme park purgatory. Any combination of these destinations feels only possible in a dream state.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rich variety of performances gives the swath of talent in the department the ability to flex their muscles; student actors, stage managers, designers, and directors have the opportunity to build their skillset, face challenges, and harness their craft in both classic and contemporary text. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPride and Prejudice\u201d and \u201cTwo by Two\u201d <\/em>(student one acts), will premiere in J Studio in the Fine Arts Center, 150 Upper College Road, during the fall semester. \u201c<\/em>A Midsummer Night’s Dream\u201d and \u201cRide the Cyclone\u201d will be held in the Robert E. Will Theatre in the spring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The season will begin on Oct. 17<\/strong> with \u201cPride and Prejudice\u201d <\/em>by Kate Hamill, directed by guest artist Sophia Blum, who is originally from Providence, Rhode Island. The classic story by Jane Austen explores social expectations, self-awareness, and love through the Bennet sisters navigating love and marriage in 19th-century England. Hamill’s adaptation creates a unique opportunity to step into some classical aspects of performance while juxtaposed with contemporary text. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Kate Hamill’s \u2018<\/em>Pride and Prejudice\u2019 <\/em>takes Austen’s story to another level of fun-loving silliness. In this production, we will be implementing aspects of clowning into our rehearsal process to honor the magnificent sense of play found throughout Hamill\u2019s text,” said Blum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, \u201cTwo by Two,\u201d an evening of two student one-act plays, opens Dec. 4<\/strong>, directed by two senior directing students. Kenneth Dunn will direct \u201c<\/em>Free Range Chickens\u201d by Ann Wuehler, and Brandon Tallardy will direct \u201cThe Dumb Waiter\u201d by Harold Pinter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each season, the department supervises a completely student-led production that covers directing, stage management, designing, costumes, props \u2013 truly anything that goes into bringing a show to life, students are at the helm. Typically, there is one play during the season with a student director attached. This year, two seniors with a concentration in directing have produced each of the one-act plays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt’s important to me to give more obscure plays the attention that they deserve, and \u2018Free Range Chickens\u2019 is the very definition of a hidden gem. It’s atmospheric, rapid-fire, and kooky, and will bring a unique energy to the department\u2019s season. I cannot wait to collaborate with the brilliant people at 溏心vlog免费B站 once again,\u201d said Dunn, B.F.A. Theatre. <\/p>\n\n\n

\u201cAre you sure that we are awake? It seems to me that yet we sleep, we dream.\u201d <\/blockquote>\u2013 Demetrius of \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream\u201d <\/cite><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n

On Feb. 27<\/strong>, director and 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty member Tracy Miller<\/a> will explore themes of love, illusion, and the transformative power of dreams in Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cA Midsummer Night’s Dream.\u201d The department deliberately selects a classic work every year, ranging from the Bard to Moliere, offering students a challenge to sink their teeth into heightened language. It also provides foundational skills for actors approaching any text, classical or contemporary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited to direct this version of \u2018Midsummer\u2019 for several reasons. It’s a play I’m very familiar with, yet each time I crack it open, it sings to me in different ways,\u201d said Miller. \u201cThis time I\u2019m deeply interested in the focus on the climate and how the dissension between Oberon and Titania is affecting everything; a marvelous connection to the current state of the contemporary world. And I am also deeply interested in finding the love, humor, and joy in every scene of this play. We need wonder, magic, and, most of all, the opportunity to laugh together!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2008 darkly comic musical, \u201cRide the Cyclone,\u201d will round out the season on April 17<\/strong>. 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty member Rachel Walshe<\/a> will direct the final production. The campy and playful musical follows the lives of six teenagers from a Canadian chamber choir who are cut short in a freak accident aboard a roller coaster. When they awake in limbo, a mechanical fortune teller invites each to tell a story to win a prize like no other \u2014 the chance to return to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cabaret-style musical involves a leaner cast, compared to past productions like last season\u2019s \u201cGuys and Dolls.\u201d This affords more students the opportunity to sharpen their skills behind the scenes. Musicals are traditionally performed in the larger of the two available theatres, and this show in particular will require some out-of-the-box creativity. How do you scale up a smaller musical to a mammoth space? Walshe is eager to find out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYoung adults can easily relate to these characters; the challenges of being a teenager. Several archetypes in the play are equal parts audacious and campy, and really moving. I think one of the show’s virtues as a piece of art is the balance between the untimely death of young people wrapped in a silly premise,\u201d said Walshe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2025-2026 SEASON<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPride and Prejudice\u201d by Kate Hamill <\/strong>
Oct. 17-18 and 22-25, 2025, at 7:30 p.m. 
Oct. 19 and 26, 2025, at 2 p.m.
J-Studio, 溏心vlog免费B站 Fine Arts Center <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An evening of two one-acts <\/strong>
\u201cFree Range Chickens\u201d by Ann Wuehler and \u201cThe Dumb Waiter\u201d by Harold Pinter<\/strong>
Dec. 4-6, at 7:30 p.m. 
Dec. 7, at 2 p.m. 
J- Studio, 溏心vlog免费B站 Fine Arts Center<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream\u201d by William Shakespeare<\/strong>
Feb. 27-28, and March 4-7, at 7:30 p.m. 
March 1 and March 8, at 2 p.m. 
Robert E. Will Theatre, 溏心vlog免费B站 Fine Arts Center<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRide the Cyclone\u201d<\/strong>
Music, lyrics, and book by Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell 
April 17-18 and 22-25, at 7:30 p.m. 
April 19 and 26, at 2 p.m. 
Robert E. Will Theatre, 溏心vlog免费B站 Fine Arts Center
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tickets are available now by visiting: uri.edu\/theatre\/buy-tickets\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story was written by Paige Monopoli, communications coordinator for the College of Arts and Sciences.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Sept. 2, 2025 \u2013 This season in the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Theatre Department, audiences will get a chance to visit Georgian-era England, a Las Vegas bus stop, the realistic and unsettling mind of Harold Pinter, a magical Shakespearean forest, and theme park purgatory. Any combination of these destinations feels only possible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":103803,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12,1913],"class_list":["post-103802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-public-engagement"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103802"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103802\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103814,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103802\/revisions\/103814"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}